No brains
I don't subscribe to the theory that chickens are in general without brains. However, I am beginning to think I may indeed have a flock of brainless chickens.
It is cold. It is raining. It is miserable out.
My chickens have a spacious, draft free Chicken Palace with food, fresh water and many perches, roosts and tree stumps to jump up and down from. They have not one, but two covered runs including en-suite dustbathing, a long ladder, a perch with a view, and food and fresh water stations throughout.
They also have two open runs with a small muddy river (stream really) flows down the middle of one, and until I install gutters the drip line of the roof goes into each of the open runs.
They have all this. And what do they do?
They stand with their feet in the muddy stream, under the drip line in the open run. They are sopping wet and yelling at me.
My chickens are literally too stupid to come in out of the rain!

A profound, complete and (almost) completely un-coerced, apology
I have been instructed on pain of death (a threat I take seriously) by all the Princesses in The Chicken Palace to make it clear to all citizens, whether human or fowl, that I was completely inaccurate and inappropriate in suggesting that the Princesses are without brains.
"You think we want to stand here in the wet you idiot? The rain makes the worms come up for air. If you would just do your job and go out and dig up worms and serve them to us in our cozy Palace we wouldn't be out here sopping wet."
I am personally skeptical about that last point but in deference to the orders I received I am posting this apology note:
Dear Princesses
I am fully aware that you are the smartest (and prettiest) of chickens and I am truly sorry for suggesting otherwise.
Your humble servant,
RC
 
A profound, complete and (almost) completely un-coerced, apology
I have been instructed on pain of death (a threat I take seriously) by all the Princesses in The Chicken Palace to make it clear to all citizens, whether human or fowl, that I was completely inaccurate and inappropriate in suggesting that the Princesses are without brains.
"You think we want to stand here in the wet you idiot? The rain makes the worms come up for air. If you would just do your job and go out and dig up worms and serve them to us in our cozy Palace we wouldn't be out here sopping wet."
I am personally skeptical about that last point but in deference to the orders I received I am posting this apology note:
Dear Princesses
I am fully aware that you are the smartest (and prettiest) of chickens and I am truly sorry for suggesting otherwise.
Your humble servant,
RC
Wow! You are lucky they did not file a grievance against you!
 
A profound, complete and (almost) completely un-coerced, apology
I have been instructed on pain of death (a threat I take seriously) by all the Princesses in The Chicken Palace to make it clear to all citizens, whether human or fowl, that I was completely inaccurate and inappropriate in suggesting that the Princesses are without brains.
"You think we want to stand here in the wet you idiot? The rain makes the worms come up for air. If you would just do your job and go out and dig up worms and serve them to us in our cozy Palace we wouldn't be out here sopping wet."
I am personally skeptical about that last point but in deference to the orders I received I am posting this apology note:
Dear Princesses
I am fully aware that you are the smartest (and prettiest) of chickens and I am truly sorry for suggesting otherwise.
Your humble servant,
RC
I think you’ve done the right thing, issuing a public apology!
You want eggs don’t you?:lol::lol:
 
I'm still madly trying to catch up on the three threads, but I had to share this story with you that my colleague shared with me today. She said that she was in her backyard the other day and could see her neighbour, two doors down. This neighbour was in her backyard, cuddling a hen the same way my colleague was cuddling her puppy! She said she had to share it with me. :love
Awww! Now I’m inspired to go cuddle mine!
 
Wow! You are lucky they did not file a grievance against you!
They would have if I had not very publicly apologized and I am not out of the woods as they clearly think freshly dug live worms is their birthright. And of course I am so worried about Maggie that I am inclined to comply.
Maggie seems 'off' commercial food and not even that interested in oatmeal or rice mixed with canned fish, but she is all action on anything alive - bugs, worms, mice.
So you just know I am going to go out there to dig up worms. So now it will be me standing out there sopping wet in the rain.
Who is it that has no brains?!
 
Yup. There is something about those white ones. 🥰 Don't get me wrong I love the brown ones as well. But that crisp clean white is beautiful.

Yes, right until they decide to roll in mud... or add a couple pounds of forest dirt into their feathers to shake out in you face, or (not really an exclusive white leghorn trick I suppose, as Dean is only 1/4 leghorn but pretty white), there’s the ever popular “scratch myself with the underside of this greasy truck” maneuver... now that one takes a lot to get off!
 
They would have if I had not very publicly apologized and I am not out of the woods as they clearly think freshly dug live worms is their birthright. And of course I am so worried about Maggie that I am inclined to comply.
Maggie seems 'off' commercial food and not even that interested in oatmeal or rice mixed with canned fish, but she is all action on anything alive - bugs, worms, mice.
So you just know I am going to go out there to dig up worms. So now it will be me standing out there sopping wet in the rain.
Who is it that has no brains?!
Have you considered ordering in some live meal worms for her? They are pretty easy to keep, and I think if you raise them on non medicated chick starter as well as wheat or oat bran it’s kind of like gut loading crickets for a pet reptile. Any chicken who gains entry into the big coop via human intervention (not counting Cass sneaking his girls in attempting to raid the cat dishes!) gets a little handful. I ordered more than I planned on feeding and reserved about half for breeding. I haven’t really worked on expanding my worm farm because there’s very limited space in the trailer. But so far I’m fairly happy with the results. They literally live under our coffee table in two little plastic desk organizer drawer things.
 

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